00125 regular meeting of the board of education. The board just uh returned from its board working session and please rise for the pledge to the flag to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. Okay, we'll start with a reading of our mission statement. We are committed to academic achievement and success for all students in a safe environment in partnership with families in our community. Our mission is to promote confidence, inspire a passion for learning, and to prepare our students to become responsible global citizens. Next is the approval of the revised agenda. Is there a motion? >> Motion. >> Second. >> All in favor? I. Motion carries. And that is our uh public hearing on the 202526
002code of conduct. Dr. Hassler. >> Sure. Before we get into the the public hearing portion of the approval of the code of conduct, I'm just going to give a brief overview of the changes from year to year that we're making and proposing in the code of conduct. So, just for everybody's information, state law requires that the code of conduct is approved every year by um the local boards of education. Uh we typically put the code of conduct on the on a summer board of education agenda so that way we start the school year fresh to be able to communicate any updates regarding the code of conduct to the community. Um we're required to have a public hearing which is what we're having initially where the code of conduct gets published on the district website under
003board docs for people to review. If anybody has any questions or feedback that they would like to provide they're welcome to provide that feedback. Um and then it gets presented to the board for approval. Once approved, a copy of the code of conduct has to be published on the district website for everybody to have access to it. Um it also uh gets printed and there are printed copies that are available in every single school. Uh plain language versions of the code of conduct get woven into each school's student handbook. Um and that information gets communicated to the community. An important part of the code of conduct is a cover letter. Um once approved by the board, uh I I write a cover letter and we're required to share with the community verbatim what the changes
004are from year to year because it's a fairly indepth document. This year's code of conduct has five recommended changes that um we've made from last year's version to this year's version. The first update is regarding uh artificial intelligence. We included language in the academic integrity section regarding undisclosed or unauthorized use of art artificial intelligence in student work. Um basically saying that students need to disclose any use of AI in their work to uh teacher and get permission from a teacher or administrator in order to be able to do that. Um on page 26, we updated the section on emergency situations. This is something that was required by the state education department. Um they changed some of their language regarding uh emergency drills and evacuations within the school building. Specifically, uh shelter in place is now
005called shelter in place or sheltering. Hold in place is now called either hold in place or a hold. And a lockout is now being called secure lockout. And we basically take that language from the state education department and included in the code of conduct. Um on page 36, we had an update to the student dress code section. Uh you may recall on at the June 4th board of education meeting, our previous student representative spoke briefly about some recommendations that the student body was making regarding uh the implementation of the student dress code and they basically asked if we could include language uh and and I can read the language for you. If and when possible, staff will use reasonable efforts to avoid addressing dress code issues in front of other students and to address concerns
006outside of instructional time. um all changes that that get put into the code of conduct, we uh run it by legal counsel. We speak with the administrative team and with the staff to make sure that um you know the the language is appropriate. So we're including that language in the code of conduct. The fourth change is we update the DASA coordinators across each of the seven buildings on an annual basis. So that section has been updated and the final section is the the final update is in the phone use and personal electronic device section. So this section was one that already existed within the code of conduct. Um, now because of the distracted free learning policy, we've taken language from both the law and the recently approved policy by the board of education and woven
007that language to ensure that our cell phone and personal electronic device section in the code of conduct is in compliance with what the new law states. However, I will also say that there are elements there were elements in the previous version that we wanted to make sure that we maintained the integrity of that within our code of conduct. So when you read it that the the language sounds a little bit confusing because we've used some of the language that is actually explicitly outlined in the law and we differentiate between internet enabled devices and non- internet enabled devices because the law itself states that internet enabled devices need to be off and away they're prohibited from bellto bell. We previously had that policy in practice in place. However, the difference is now in internet enabled devices
008have to be stowed away and off in a pouch at the secondary level and in a book bag or a locker. Previously, they did not have to get placed in a pouch. So now we're saying internet enabled devices in accordance with the policy are going to be off and in a pouch and in away in backpacks andor lockers. However, non-inabled devices such as and we we've received a number of questions from the community about this about various other devices, non- internet enabled devices like MP3 players, CD players, um tape players, uh cameras, video recorders, audio recorders, um things that still have uses within the school district. Those need to be off and away, but they can be used during the day with permission from a staff member. So, if you're a member of the yearbook
009and you have a camera and you're going around the building taking pictures for the yearbook, that is not something that is changing. That is going to be permissible when you receive authorization from a staff member in order to be able to do that. If you're in a study hall or in the library and you have an MP3 player that is not internet enabled, you do have the ability to be able to use that. So that is an an element of our previous code of conduct that we tried to maintain while still making the policy align with what the law states. So that is basically the update in that section. We took the language from the policy prohibiting internet enabled devices making them required to be stowed away in the locked pouches during the day from
010bell to bell. But the non-inabled devices still need to be off but still can be used with the permission of a staff member within the school district. The majority of the language still remains intact from the previous policy that existed. That's it regarding our updates to the code of conduct for this year. >> Thank you. Any questions? No. Okay. Is there approval? >> Sure. >> I don't think I spoke with the student. No one signed up for any public comment. So, >> is there a motion to >> a motion to approve? >> Any second? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I I code of conduct 2025 2026 has been approved. [clears throat] >> Okay. Questions or comments from interested citizens? Miss Sudan, there are none. Correct. No. >> Similarly, no update on questions or
011comments raised. >> Okay. So, Dr. Hasser, >> Okie dokie. Move your seat for this one. So, thank you for the opportunity to present this evening. Um, this is another item that typically happens over the summer. Uh, the state law requires that we present to the board of education our school safety and educational climate data that is submitted to the commissioner on an annual basis. Um, the deadline for submitting the data for the school year is in July. Um, in 2023, uh, a a regulation was passed requiring school districts to also adopt, uh, a school safety and educational climate policy, which we did. And included in that policy is the requirement to present the data to the school board and present it publicly for the community. So now every single summer, uh, it's usually the first
012board meeting in August because the data gets submitted in July. The first board meeting in August is when this data gets presented to the community. Hence this presentation just a very brief overview. Um it's commission regulation uh 100 that requires all school districts to report various forms of um uh violent or disruptive incidents that occur over the course of the school year. Um for us we submit uh eight different kind of buckets of information. Each of our seven schools submit their building respective uh their respective building information as well as we present any district-wide uh items which are inclusive of students that may have alternate placements throughout the um you know in out of district settings. There are 11 different categories that get presented. I'll speak a little bit more about what those 11 categories
013are in a moment along with very specific criteria about what it means to be reported within that. Um there are cyber bullying incidents, there are um other bullying related incidents, there are threats, there are drugrelated um incidents and the state provides very detailed language about what does and does not um con uh uh uh categorize as each of those different um areas. There's a lot of data that gets uh included in this data submission. However, only portions of that are going to be spoken about tonight um because some of the data also includes the number of victims, the number of offenders, the number the type of interventions, um the various types of consequences that are done. However, because you'll see in a moment that the some categories have very few instances and we don't speak
014about that publicly because it may contain personally identifiable information about students that may um have been impacted by that specific situation. So the only information that I'm going to be presenting tonight is the information that is publicly accessible on the state education website when the state releases that data. So I shared that in 2023 was the beginning of when this started. So this is just to kind of give a little bit of context. This is our data that was uh presented in 2023 just to give you again a little bit of a historical perspective. These are the 11 categories that we have to submit on homicide, sexual offenses, assault, weapons possession, um DASA incidents excluding cyber bullying, DASA incidents including cyber bullying, bomb threats, false alarms, threats of violence, use possession or sale of drugs,
015use possession or sale of alcohol. Once again, these are the number of incidents that we had back in 2023. The reason why I am am sharing this information is because this was data that was presented at the beginning of last year's presentation. And so this was the data that was presented last summer for the 2324 school year. I'm sharing this with you because you may recall that there was uh a conversation about a a notable increase in the use, possession, and sale of drugs from the 2223 school year where we had 32 incidents. We saw an increase to 62 incidents at the high school and an increase of 12 incidents at the middle school. and we had a fairly lengthy conversation about um various factors that could be contributing in that to that in last
016year's board of education meeting. Again, I'm providing this to give a little bit of historical background on each of these different categories. This is our previous year's data that was just recently submitted to the state education department. What I took the liberty to do was to show you where the shifts were in each of those different categories. Green represents a reduction in a category. Red represents an increase in a particular category. So you'll notice the first four columns, homicide, sexual offense, assault, and weapons possession. Those are categorized as major incidents. Um we we did have one assault, one weapons possession in the high school two years ago. Uh we didn't have any in those categories. So we had no instances of any of the four major categories. Um, we saw a a slight increase. We
017went from, I think, six overall uh DASA incidents up to eight DAS incidents overall across the school district last year. Um, so there was a slight uh increase in that. We also noticed a slight increase in threats of violence. Just to clarify, a threat of violence could be uh a student making a threat to another student. That could be online, that could be in person, that could be in any particular way. Um, a threat of violence is is a little bit different than a threat of violence, a threat to the school specifically, which could potentially fall under the the bomb threat category. Um, I also want to draw your attention to the use and possession or sale of drugs category. We saw a decrease this past year in that category closer to the level that
018I showed you in the beginning of 2223. I think that there were 32 incidents 2 years ago. The pre the next year we saw that slight uptick. Um this year we saw another reduction from the 62 incidents during the 23 24 school year to the 27 incidents at the high school in 2425. Um there was an increase in the use possession or sale of alcohol category. The high school had one incident last year and there was an increase to two incidents this year. Um, once again, this is the data that was submitted up to state ed. Um, you can go on the SSC portion of the stateed website. Um, this information is not yet published, but this is, you know, we're required to present to the board what we submitted to the state. Eventually, after
019the state uh reviews all of the data, it will become publicly accessible. As of right now, you I I believe you'll only be able to see up to the 23 24 school year. Um, but soon the state will be releasing this information statewide. And this information will be accessible on the stated website. >> So Eric, you said that it was a slight increase in threat of violence, but it went from zero at the high school to 12. >> Correct. >> That doesn't sound >> slight in compar 12, it seems like. Yes, agreed. Yep. >> And do we do we know what was there kind of a theme about >> um I I spoke to the high school administration about that and I don't think that there was anything notably different that they saw. It just
020seems like there were across the school year from the beginning to the end um an increase in kids making threats to other students. And I believe one of the reasons why I shared with you the 22 23 school years we had five that year. Last year in general we when we went from 22 23 we saw quite a sharp decrease to the 23 24 school year in DASA incidents and threats of violence. There was a decrease but there was a sharp increase in drug use. This year we seem to revert back to an uptick in some DAS incidents, an uptick in the threats of violence, but a decrease in the drug use. So, it it kind of brought us a little bit closer to where we were previous to last year. >> Okay. >> Any
021other questions? >> Okay. Thank you, Dr. H. [clears throat] Coming back. Okay. Next is the approval of minutes from our August 13, 2025 meeting. Is there a motion? >> Motion. >> Second. >> All in favor? I. Motion carries. >> Next is approval of the updated board calendar. Is there a motion? >> Second. >> All in favor? I. Motion carries. And then the approval of our tax rules, tax warrant, and establishment of tax rates 2025 through 2026. Is there a [clears throat] motion? >> Motion. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. Motion carries. >> And for personnel, Mr. Burgerer. >> Good evening. Uh, I would like to respectfully request the board approval of personnel items 12.1 through 12.21. >> Thank you. I'd like to ask uh Vice President Simmons to speak for a moment. >>
022Sure. >> Uh while Miss Lori Hawk couldn't be with us tonight, the board of education would like to take a moment to recognize and thank her for her many years of dedicated service to our community. Very few people can say they've worn as many Crusader hats as Lori. She has been on her journey with Monroe Woodbury since 2006, starting as a physical education teacher and a coach, roles she's embraced for decades before stepping into the position of athletic director. In that role, Lori had oversight of the 2018 capital improvement project that resulted in the beautiful athletic facilities our athletes and community members enjoy today. In January 2022, Lori stepped up once again, this time as interim high school principal before being appointed to assistant superintendent for human resources just a few months later. As a
023proud Monro Woodbury graduate, Lorie's love for the district runs deep. Her passion for our students, her tireless work behind the scenes, and her unshakable crusader spirit have left a lasting mark on our schools, our students, and this community as a whole. Tonight, even in her absence, we celebrate Lorie's incredible impact and thank her for everything she's given to Monroe Woodbury. We wish her all the best in her welldeserved retirement. Congratulations, Lori. >> Thank you. Is there any questions? >> Is there a motion? >> Motion. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I I. >> Motion carries. Um I would just like to mention that we do have the district clerk is being hired tonight. Uh Miss Diane Gentilli. Diane spent uh quite a lot of years in uh Dr. Hasser's office being our registar and
024among other things before that. and the board is excited to welcome you welcome you as a new district clerk and we look forward to working with you and I know that you and Miss Sudan will be a great team and big support for for the board and cabinet. So thank you. Um and I also see Miss Pennolino in there. Hi and congratulations on your appointment. Is there any other members of the audience that is being nearly hired? No. Okay. So we'll move on then. Welcome to everybody. Thank you. Uh, next I think is business and financial. Mr. Cahill. >> Uh, thank you. I respectfully request approval of business and financial items 13.1 through 13.5 which includes eight contracts, three donations, and a declaration of obsolete items. >> Any questions for Mr. Cahill? >> No. Is
025there a motion? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. Motion carries. >> Okay. And next is uh is there a motion for the recommendations of the committee on special education to approve? Motion. >> Motion. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. Motion carries. Recommendations of the committee on special education for secondary. The first one was preschool. Is there a motion? >> Motion. >> Second. >> Motion carries. Recommendations on out of district. Motion. >> Motion. >> Second. All in favor? I. And >> don't we normally do the whole section? I'm sorry. >> You know what? It's a different format for me here. [laughter] So, I'm going to do it like this and make sure we cover everything. And the last one is special education and preschool uh education. Is there a motion? >> Second.
026>> All in favor? I. Motion carries. And reports by board and central office. >> Dr. H. >> I'd like to thank the board for their approval of the code of conduct this evening um and for your insight in developing it. Uh, congratulations to the newly appointed staff. Congratulations to Diane. Um, Miss Taber was correct that Diane and I have worked together for 10 years. She's been a true asset to the CNI office. She's literally registered hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of kids into our school district. And um, you know, I'm happy to see you onward and upward to to bigger and better things. So, congratulations to you. Um, I certainly would like to echo Miss Simmons comments regarding Lori. Uh, little known fact, Lori's history with the Hassler family goes very, very deep.
027She started as a PE teacher when my brother was in high school. So, um, she knows Hasslers way, way back. Uh, to think about the hundreds and thousands of kids that she's impacted in her time in education. Uh, I I wish her nothing but health and happiness and a very enjoyable uh, retirement. Um, summer programs are in full swing. Uh, summer school graduation is next week. Um, so we're very excited to celebrate an additional round of graduates as they move on from Monoberry to do great things. And thank you very much. Have a good night. >> Thank you, Miss Novak. >> Um, just want to echo the sentiments to the new hires. Welcome to to your new roles. A huge thank you to Lisa for stepping in the role over the last couple of months.
028It's been a big help to the board. Um, huge congratulations to to Lorie Hawk. Welldeserved retirement. Um, And I think that's it. >> Thank you, Dr. Morales. >> Just like to welcome all of our new uh staff members to Monroe Woodbury. Welcome to Diane. Uh we look forward to seeing our new teachers at orientation Monday and Tuesday of next week and congratulate Miss Hawk on a very well-deserved retirement. >> Thank you, Mr. Seriela. >> Um I just want to wish everyone a great rest of the summer. Have a good evening. Thank you, Mr. Burgerer. >> Good evening. Uh, I too would like to welcome the new hires. Uh, I've had the privilege of meeting with many of them over the last few weeks. And I could say that the the buildings, the directors in the
029district is doing an exceptional job with uh those that we are bringing into the district and also retaining as well. And uh moving on into different positions. uh which leads me to congratulate uh Diane uh who will be our you know new district clerk and also Frana who's here with us as well who will be moving into a teaching assistant position uh again examples of our own staff who are excelling and doing really well and being promoted through through our district. Um I too obviously would be remiss if I did not uh thank Lorie Hawk for uh really everything that that she has done for our district. Uh but also on a personal level, I've had the the privilege of working alongside Lori in in various roles over the past 20 years. Uh and certainly
030it's an understatement to say her her dedication, her passion, and and her commitment will be will be greatly missed. Uh but we wish her the absolute best on a well-deserved retirement uh and what the future holds for her. So with that, I'd like to say good evening. >> Thank you, Dr. Via. >> Congratulations, Diane. Um looking forward to work with you. You're in a different role. um your valuable knowledge of registration is not going too far. That's awesome. Uh Lori, congratulations. Welld deserved. Um one of the important project that we are working um as a district is transitioning to the new phone system to Cisco call manager. So on uh on August 21st around 3:15 we will be cutting over to the new system and this is this is critical because it's we are moving
031from fourdigit extensions to the fivedigit extensions. This allows us to be futurep proofing a little bit. So when we decide to take the next step and then add airb phones or lines this will help us to be prepared uh with this migration but as every migration brings some interesting changes um we are working with our internal stakeholders to give them information as we cut as we uh get near the cut over uh and we'll be putting some blurb on the website for the community as well. >> Thank you. >> Enjoy the rest of the summer. >> Um good evening. I'd like to welcome all our new hires and congratulate them and welcome you into the Monroe Woodbury family. Diane, looking forward to working with you in this capacity. Lisa, thank you for your invaluable assistance
032during the last couple of weeks. Really appreciate you. Um to Lori, have a wonderful retirement. I hope you enjoy yours as much as I enjoy mine. [laughter] Seriously. Um I hope everybody's having a great summer and I'm looking forward to graduation next week. Have a good evening, Mr. Cah. >> Okay. I just like to thank the following organizations for their donations to the district tonight. So, New York uh school insurance reciprocal donated $1,000 to the high school guidance office. New York Jets donated $1,000 to the girls flag football team and Orange and Rockland uh donated a $600 uh STEM grant to North Main Elementary School. So, thank you for that. Uh we approved the tax rates or the board did tonight. I just want to remind everybody that although the levy increased by 1.5% the
033actual five town tax rates our district goes into five different towns and their segments can vary and and will vary based on something called equalization and um I I won't go deeply into this process but but we have to go through an aortionment process each year which means we take those those five segments the levy is like a pie and the pie is divided into five pieces is and we have to equalize those segments because they assess at different levels of market value and bring them to market value 100%. And then we do an aortionment which decides the size of those slices of the levy pie. Uh and there's an state equalization rate which changes each year and that can sort of distort uh the the tax rates the the tax um base can also
034change. That's also sort of a factor that can distort this. So a 1.5% levy increase for our two largest communities, Monroe is actually a 2.08% increase and for Woodbury it's a decrease of 1.65%. So again, we control the size of the levy and the increase 1 and a.5% but there's a whole another process which affects the individual tax rates. I also want to congratulate Lori, wish her all the best in retirement. I think she's done next week and I hope everyone has a nice evening. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. question. [clears throat] >> I just wanted uh to echo the sentiments. Um welcome to uh Diane, Lisa. Thank you very much >> uh for stepping up. Uh Lori, I'm jealous. Um and um I uh really want to thank the cabinet um for you
035know consistent work. You guys don't stop working ever. Um and looking forward to starting a new year. Thank you. >> Thank you, Superintendent. >> So, I want to congratulate all of our newly appointees. I also want to wish Miss Lori Hawk well in retirement. As a New York State personal electronics band and schools law goes into effect, we're going to continue to share information. Um, just a reminder that we will be holding two virtual Crusader chats on Monday, August 25th at lunchtime, a lunchtime chat at 12:30 p.m. and an evening chat at 6:00 p.m. Please feel free to visit the website and complete the online form if you want to participate, and we'll certainly send you a Google Meet invitation closer to the event day. The much anticipated printed calendar is currently in production. As
036in past practice, every family will receive one calendar which will come home with your student on the first day of school. Additional copies will be available at local libraries, town halls, and senior centers. All families will receive a district newsletter via email during the last week in August. This newsletter will include important information about upcoming changes during the 2526 school year, an introduction to the district strategic plan process, and administrative staffing updates. School level monthly news letters newsletters will reconvene in midepptember. Thank you. Good evening. >> Thank you, Vice President Simmons. >> Um, I want to say a huge congratulations to all of the summer graduates. um wishing you well on your journey and as I say with all the graduates when you make it big don't forget the little people. Um also welcome to
037Diane. Uh definitely looking forward to years [clears throat] of extensive experience in the district will bring to the district clerk role. Uh huge thank you to Lisa for holding the fort down. Um and I'm looking forward to all of the work that we continue to do with both of you. I'm going to mirror my um absent board member, Mr. Reynolds. Welcome to the new teammates. Um, we look forward to you joining the Monroe Woodbury family or growing in the Monroe Woodbury family. Um, I want to give a shout out to communications for all of the wonderful summer posts. I've enjoyed seeing the Monroe Woodbury students on their journeys through the summer. Um, I'm hoping to see all of the wonderful photos during the school year. So, um, wishing everyone a wonderful rest of the summer.
038Um, I'm going to say that I'm also jealous of Lori because she gets to wake up every day and decide what she wants to do now. So, very jealous of that. And I'm looking forward to a very wonderful, positive school year. So, enjoy the rest of the summer and see you in September. >> Thank you. I I think a lot of what I wanted to say has been said, but I will give a a thank you to Dr. Hasser for tonight's both updates. Um, you know, very comprehensive uh information that you shared with us, so we appreciate that. and to Dr. VS and everybody that helped um Mr. Cahill with the distraction-free learning. I know it was a big lift to to get through this um summer, but I'm looking forward to it really working
039flawlessly and that's what we're going to put out there. So, good intentions and and thank you to uh our retiring staff for for the many years of service that you gave to our district, especially Lori Hawk who has been invaluable to so many students and staff during her tenure here. So, a special uh congratulations to her. And I think that's it. I am also looking forward to graduation next week for our our summer graduates. And like Vice President Simmons said, I really do enjoy the the updates on social media of where our students are. And I was also saw our staff members post yesterday. So, I thought that was extra special. So, thank you for all the work that goes on during the summer months. Everyone thinks that the summer is just a time for,
040you know, unwinding, but there's a lot of work that is actually happening by um our staff and our cabinet and our superintendent. So, thank you for your commitment. And with that, I'm looking for a motion to adjurnn it to an executive session to discuss a matter related to personnel and salary. Is there a motion? Second. >> Second. >> All in favor? I. Motion carries. We are journed.